1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable trimmer for cutting weeds or the like, and, more particularly, to a portable trimmer that uses a stick for preventing rotation of the trimmer's cutting portion when the cutting portion is being assembled and disassembled.
2. Related Art
Portable trimmers for cutting weeds are known in the art. A typical portable trimmer has driving means such as a compact air-cooled two-stroke gasoline internal combustion engine, a supporting tube extending straight from the engine in a forward direction, and a cutting device provided at a forward end of the supporting tube. An operator hangs a strap over the shoulder to support the portable trimmer at a height corresponding to the hip, and moves the rotating cutter in the right and left directions to cut weeds by maneuvering handles mounted on the supporting tube.
FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view of a cutting device 80, which is a so-called "section blade cutter" in a conventional portable trimmer. The cutting device 80 has a case 82 fixed to the forward end of the supporting tube, a rotatable shaft 86 vertically extending toward the ground and rotatably driven by a gear 84 accommodated in the case 82, a seating member 88 that is rotatable with the rotatable shaft 86, a circular plate 90 removably mounted on a lower side of the seating member 88 and having a plurality of section blades 90a attached at regular intervals along a circumference thereof (only one section blade 90a being shown in FIG. 8), and a nut 98 which is threadably engaged with threaded portion 96 to fix the circular plate 90 to the seating member 88.
The circular plate 90 needs to be disassembled for grinding or replacing the blade 90a. Holes 82a and 88a are formed in the case 82 and the seating element 88, respectively. To remove the circular plate 90, a bar 104 for preventing rotation of the seating member 88 is inserted in a slit 100a formed in a safety cover 100 and then into both holes 82a and 88a, to prevent the rotation of the seating member 88 and the rotatable shaft 86 with respect to the Since the nut 98 is mounted on a lower end of the rotatable shaft 86, the cutting device 80 needs to be turned upside down on the ground to remove the nut 98.
However, when the conventional cutting device 80 is oriented upside down, the bar 104 falls out of the holes 82a and 88a. Therefore, the operator must continue holding the bar 104 throughout the disassembly operation, which is troublesome for the operator. Further, the same problem arises when the circular plate 90 is assembled by following the above steps in reverse order.